May 2022 Highlights

 May is the best month of the year :) Here's what we were up to!

After a year with braces Jane got them off. Here's a before and after. Happy girl!

She was very nervous during the process but it wasn't too bad.

It was teacher appreciation week so I walked the kids to school to help them purchase flowers.

Speaking of flowers, the rule in Colorado is "don't buy flowers until after Mother's Day". Well, just a few days before Mother's Day, I went hog wild. I can't help myself! It didn't snow the entire month of April, very very unusual, so I thought we were golden.

Flower baskets and all.

This rainbow though! Practically in our backyard!

Make that a double rainbow!

The first weekend in May my mom flew down from Seattle to hang out and watch Fox and Jane while Chris went and celebrated our 15th anniversary. I always take a picture of where I park at the airport so I don't get lost.

The first morning Malm was here we went and looked at a house up in the mountains with the most amazing views I've ever seen from a home.

I could get used to washing dishes here! But the house was understandably too remote for my parents so the hunt continues.

Chris proposed to me 16 years ago with a scrapbook he made. He's a keeper :) It's much too personal for a flip through though, so sorry!

For our anniversary we booked two nights at The Broadmoor an hour south in Colorado Springs.

We made it!

We checked in.

Chocolates greeted us in our room.

We had a stunning mountain view.

It was absolutely perfect weather.

Time for dinner!

We ate at an Italian place which was yummy.

Then we walked around the resort, soaking in the sites.

Eventually we made our way to a dessert deli, mmmm.

The next morning we got to watch the sun rise.

Breakfast sammy.

We were on the first bus to arrive at Seven Falls. 

It was so cool to be the only ones there!

Let the hiking begin! Holy steps!

One of the many waterfalls.

View from the top.

We went on a little hike to more waterfalls.

There was a fun restaurant on the property but sadly it was closed because they couldn't hire enough staff.

We saved our jelly legs and took the elevator up to the other view point. It's amazing how steep the other set of stairs looks from this angle! No wonder it hurt to climb them lol.

Lunch time! This fancy grilled cheese sandwich with sweet potato fries was my favorite meal of the weekend.

Golf course views. I'd like to learn how to golf.

Beautiful hotel details.

We walked to dinner and got to see the front side of the East hotel.

Dinner at the Golden Bee.

Hit or miss food but I can't stop thinking about the dessert!

Walking back to the hotel we came upon a family of deer eating all the flowers.

The next morning we drove home and it was Mother's Day as well as officially our 15th anniversary!

Love these kids who made me a mom.

I love Chris with all my heart and soul.

And I love my own Malm! So fun that she got to be here on Mother's Day.

Chris made my favorite chicken tacos for dinner that night. Mmmm so good.

My mom helped me plant flowers in the rock bed. It'll be fun to compare this photo to one at the end of the summer.

Jane and her friends performed at the school talent show.

They sung Firework by Katy Perry.

Too adorbs.

We had dinner one night at Tom and Margi's and the other Evans family was there too. Cute cousins.

The indoor bougainvillea are thriving!

Wild flower.

And this is why you don't buy flowers until after Mother's Day. The dance of the flowers. (Bringing them in, taking them out, bringing them in, taking them out, etc.) But at this point we were well into the 3rd week of May! Well after Mother's Day! Now I've heard the rule is "Don't buy flowers until after Memorial Day" hahaha. Not gonna happen!

Literally one day it was 90 degrees and then by nightfall it was snowing. How? Just how?

It all melted away two days later and now we're back to springtime. 

Fox and Jane had their last day of school. Bye bye 4th and 5th grade! Can't believe we'll have a 5th and 6th grader in a few short months!

Me on my last day of being all alone all day lol :)

Fox made pizza at a church activity. He put blueberries and pineapple and all kinds of random things that we try to get him to eat on it and said it was the best pizza he ever had. Of course. Typical haha!

On the first day of summer we went to McDonald's for lunch. Our playplace inside is still closed. Is yours?

Somehow Jane talked me into getting dwarf frogs.

So now we have frogs named Todd and Mushroom. Don't ask, I have no idea why they named them that.

A fox has been spotted many times in our front yard.

The outdoor pools opened! We went the very first day. Look how happy they are! It officially feels like summer break!

I started the first Nicholas Sparks book: the Notebook. I'm reading all 22 of his books in order of publication. I've read this one before and have seen the movie dozens of times. I love it.

I turned 37!

For lunch we met up with the other Evans families down in Castle Rock where there is still a Crave Real Burgers restaurant (the one right here in Highlands Ranch closed in 2020). Imagine my delight when Chris pointed out that the specialty burger was my absolute favorite: the Sweet Heat! I literally cried with happiness! This is our 5th or so time eating at this far away Crave and they've never had the Sweet Heat. Right before closing the HR location the Sweet Heat had just become a staple on their menu; and then they closed. Anyway, it was just such an awesome birthday surprise!

Thanks fam for meeting us for lunch!

That night we went and saw Top Gun! Best movie we've seen in a loooong time!

We wrapped up my birthday weekend with a homemade by Chris berry pie.

Seemingly overnight Colorado has turned green once again. It's so pretty here.

My kitties love me, they love each other, and I love them! We're a happy little trio with our routines :)

Jill is so fascinated by water. She's always nearby when water's-a-runnin'!

We saw three movies in the theater in May: Firestarter (yikes), Downton Abbey (loved it! I only wish Matthew Goode would have made an appearance. So much of the TV series revolves around Mary and her love life, so his absence as Mary's husband was a big miss), and of course Top Gun 2 which again was soooooo good I am definitely buying it and that rarely happens with movies anymore. I'd even go see it again in the theater!

The Tale of the House Finch Family
(aka Berry & Cherry + Strawberry, Raspberry, Blueberry, Blackberry, and Marionberry)

Throughout April a pair of House finches built a nest in one of our porch lights. I took out the bulbs since they get really hot and I didn't want them to burn. Jane affectionately named the pair Berry (dad) and Cherry (mom). Fitting since the males are cherry-colored. About a week or so after the nest was built, I peeked in and to my surprise I saw 5 beautiful eggs!

I googled their hatching timeline for comparing throughout the process. Everything was exactly right!

or two weeks Cherry diligently sat on the eggs. Then one morning I noticed Berry going to the nest for little bits at a time so I decided to check the status. No more eggs! Just fuzzy things! They hatched! I couldn't tell how many, I supposed 2 or 3.

Before every feeding, Berry would fly to the ledge above our front doors to inspect and make sure everything was all clear. Amy and Jill would often be watching and he just wanted to see that the kitties weren't going to pounce.

Berry and Cherry stayed pretty close to our house the entire month. I became attuned to their chirps and could simply stand outside and listen for them. One morning they were at some bushes outside my scrap room and I saw them eat stuff (Pollen? Flower petals? Bugs?) and then immediately fly to the nest to regurgitate.

At first I was worried it was much too hot for the babies - it was about 90 degrees and they were inside glass. But then 4 days after they hatched I was worried they would freeze to death because literally overnight it dropped 60 degrees and we woke up to this! How does this even happen, I mean scientifically?!

But Berry and Cherry didn't even notice and all throughout the next two snowy days they still managed to find food and feed their hatchlings. I felt so sorry for them though, they were soaked!

As the babies got a little bigger and during feedings I counted one, two, three, four, FIVE little beaks clamoring for food! All five eggs hatched!!

About 9 days after they hatched their eyes opened.

Berry mostly fed them. I guess it's only fair after Cherry mostly sat on the eggs! Here is a rare occurrence when both of them were inside the lamp.

Their sounds and whistles are so pretty. When it wasn't snowing those two random days, it was perfectly spring so I had my window wide open and could hear them all throughout the days. 

It's amazing how FAST the babies grew. Just two weeks after they hatched they were basically full-sized and living on top of each other, feathers overflowing out of the nest. They would stretch and flap their wings in preparation for the big day.

On Memorial Day, I heard lots of commotion on the porch and saw lots of birdies flying around! All at once, 4 babies left the nest with their parents!

After a couple hours, the last baby still couldn't be coaxed out by Berry or Cherry, even though they kept returning and calling out to it. You can see its tail feathers in the photo below as it sat on the inside rim of the light. I'm sure the see-through glass is confusing and I have had to rescue a bird trapped inside once before who couldn't figure out how to escape. I probably shouldn't have intervened, but the baby birdie seemed to be in so much stress and the entire family was swarming for hours, so I went outside and carefully nudged it out and the entire family happily flew away!

I haven't really seen the babies since and I must admit that I cried that night from sadness. It was so fun to check on them 20 times a day and know that they were safe and sound. Now I have no idea what's happened to them. Are they all alive and well? I'll never know, but I'm going to assume they're living their best lives! As I type this, Berry and Cherry are fluttering around, chirping and singing on the tree right outside my window. Berry often sings atop another large tree in our front yard. I hope they come back next year and hatch another clutch!

On the scrappy front!

I shared 9 projects I made here on the blog throughout May. Lots of pink, wreaths, and flowers :)

Suitcase Mini Album // Here Comes Fun Layout // Flamingo Love Layout // Flower-Shaped Mini Album // Sweet Smile Layout // Me and My Girl Jane Layout // Splendid Coptic Book // World Traveler Layout // Happy & Good Times Layout

I designed 8 free cut files: 1 for Scrapbook & Cards Today, 3 for my Happy Scrappy Place Facebook Group, and 4 for my Newsletters.

I taught my last virtual class for awhile, a second 4x4 Mini Album.

The class is still available to purchase HERE.

I combined all my Disney-themed cut files into a bundle of 25 designs which you can purchase HERE for $10.

I got to announce my next collection with American Crafts called Garden Shoppe! You can pre-order the entire collection from me HERE.

International Scrapbook Day happened on Saturday May 7th and it was a total blast! I designed 15 free cut files for the event, all of which can be found in the featured section of my Happy Scrappy Place Facebook Group along with the free cut files from 2021, 2020, AND 2019.

I can't not add hand stitching to my projects so I cut a rainbow of threads to put into the kits for our upcoming in-person Splendid Weekend event. We've sold out of spots, but you can always reach out to be added to our waitlist :)

Then I got to work designing two layouts for an upcoming virtual class for scrappy friends in the Philippines.

Sneak peek of those two layouts!

I got all the kits boxed up and ready to go! Can't wait for the class in July!

I keep putting off filing away my pile of layouts into their scrapbooks. It's a big task but has to be done ASAP.

The day after my mom left I got right to work on my book. Yes! A book! Peg from Better Day Books reached out last year about creating a scrapbooking book and I said YES!

I created 21 new projects (13 layouts, 5 cards, and 3 mini albums - mostly with Splendid!) for the book with step-by-step photo instructions for 17 of them.

I spent every waking working hour for 3 weeks creating, creating, creating, then writing, writing, writing, and shipped off the box just in time to meet my deadline :) Nothing like pro-craft-inating lol! I work best under pressure hehe!

I can't wait for the book to be released - I'll keep you updated about when it'll be available! I can't wait to have my book amongst all these beautiful Better Day Books publications.

And that's the last big to-do item on my list! I plan to take the next month or two off from new virtual classes and projects. I'm spending time with Fox and Jane and Chris, reading, watching TV, going to the pools, and trying to relax and soak it all in after being go-go-go for what feels like years! Last summer Rachel was very sick and I was stressed and worried about her all the time and didn't really take a pause. I'm making up for it this summer and already my heart feels so happy and full!

That said, I can't relax 100% lol, so I do have some things in the works such as a new cut file bundle (24 Days of Summer Cut Files) and passion projects like my October mini album from 2021 that hasn't been started, an unfinished Disney World album, and a few in-progress layouts.

Here's to an awesome June!